


Running the Gauntlet

by ardentaislinn



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Peggy has protective friends, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3452924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentaislinn/pseuds/ardentaislinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel and Peggy start dating, and all Peggy's friends get a little protective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running the Gauntlet

Daniel had almost finished running the gauntlet.

Meeting Peggy’s friends once he had begun dating her had been like running an obstacle course; one set up on a minefield and with no map in hand. There had been a series of stages, where he met each of the important people in Peggy’s life. Each section was strewn with potential pitfalls, including poor conversation topics, invasive questions, and embarrassing speculation. And now, he was coming up to the final push.

Jarvis, Daniel had already known to some extent. The chauffeur had invited him and Peggy over for tea one day after he had somehow discovered he and Peggy were ‘spending time together’ (Jarvis’ words, not his). Jarvis had spent the entire hour glaring and passively-aggressively sipping tea, managing to convey an entire wealth of resentment at Daniel’s presence in Peggy’s life while Anna Jarvis happily carried on conversations with both him and Peggy. Until their time in the Jarvis household came to an end, and Jarvis shook his hand happily. Turned out Jarvis had just wanted a final opportunity to punish Daniel for arresting him and causing Peggy trouble before ‘welcoming Daniel to the family’ (also Jarvis’ words) (which was totally awkward for both Daniel and Peggy given the fledgling nature of their relationship).

A few weeks later, Daniel had been introduced to the Howling Commandos almost by accident. One night he had come by to pick Peggy up for a night at the theatre, only to have the door opened by Dum Dum Dugan and found Peggy’s old army buddies piled into the living room of Peggy’s apartment, clearly very much at home. They had taken one look at Daniel and then forced him to sit with them as they all lounged around and tried to intimidate him. It (mostly) didn’t work.

They also spent an inordinate amount of time interrogating him about his relationship with Peggy, but Daniel largely refused to answer, figuring it really wasn’t much of their business. What Peggy wanted them to know, she would tell them.

Eventually they moved on to questioning him about his service, until they realised that some of them had actually met him before.

By the time Peggy came into the room ready to go out, Daniel figured he must have passed the Howling Commandos inspection, because they let Peggy leave with him with only minor teasing. By the time he brought Peggy home a few hours later, they had disappeared.

Now, Daniel was edging closer to the finish line.

While he had met Angie a number of times, it was mostly in passing. Now, the waitress had decided that she wanted to meet Daniel in an ‘official capacity’ (Angie’s words, not his). Daniel agreed partially because he liked the idea of being ‘official’ with Peggy. Daniel was letting Peggy set the pace, and since she hadn’t told him exactly where he stood, he was left at rather a loss of how to explain their relationship. What do you call someone that you took out sometimes and that you were occasionally allowed to kiss?  ‘Girlfriend’ sounded terrible. ‘Partner’ reminded him too much of work. ‘Lover’ was incorrect, as they hadn’t (yet?) gone to bed together.

Hence, ‘official’ was about as close as he could get to an accurate title for them both that still sounded like they were a _thing_.

Angie swung the door of the apartment she shared with Peggy open seconds after Daniel knocked. Clearly she had been waiting for him.

“What took you so long?” she demanded.

Daniel surreptitiously checked his watch. He was ten minutes early.

“My apologies,” he told her.

“Well, I’ve been cooking all day, so you better come in,” she said grudgingly, stepping aside and allowing him entrance.

Peggy rounded the corner in that moment and lit up the instant she saw him. “Hi,” she said with a smile.

“Hi,” Daniel replied, completely unable to to keep a ridiculous grin from his face. It was always like that when he saw her, or thought of her or…

“Are you two just going to moon at each other or are we going to actually eat some food?” Angie interrupted them. Daniel felt heat rise to his cheeks, even as Peggy made her way over to him and kissed him lightly.

“Food sounds good,” she murmured close to his lips, just loud enough for Angie to hear. Angie hurumphed, but Daniel could see a repressed smile just before she turned away from them.

Daniel and Peggy followed Angie into the kitchen and tried to help her bring out food to the table. Instead, Angie waved them away with an “if there’s anything I can do, it is bring food to a table”.

So Daniel and Peggy sat at the dining table and waited as Angie weighed it down with a series of questionable-looking food dishes. Eventually, she sat, eyeing the table proudly.

“Dig in,” she told them. Daniel and Peggy did so cautiously.

“So, how have your auditions been going?” Daniel asked to distract Angie from the fact he was only picking at the food. It was the right topic of conversation, as light burst into Angie’s eyes.

“I really nailed an audition last week. I mean, I thought I did OK, but then they didn’t call, so I was really bummed out. But then they _did_ call, so now I am playing Hero in a production of Much Ado and I am _so excited_.”

“Great,” Daniel managed as Angie took a breath.

“But we aren’t here to talk about me,” Angie said seriously as her eyes narrowed in on Daniel. He gulped.

“What’s your family like?” Angie asked. Alright, apparently she was starting off easy.

“I have a younger sister, a little younger than you, called Ruth, and a grandmother still living.”

Angie nodded. “Do you want lots of children?” she sprang on him. Daniel choked on an unidentifiable vegetable.

“Angie…,” Peggy began warningly, but Angie waved her away.

“Ah, I would one day like children. I suppose that how many we have would depend on my future wife as much, or moreso, than I. Though, if I found the right woman and she didn’t want children, I would accept that.” His eyes slid over to Peggy, and then down to his plate. Of course they hadn’t yet had any conversations about the future, let alone children, and he wanted to be honest while still covering all his bases. Just in case he and Peggy got to that point.

“What do you think is the most romantic thing you can do for a woman?” Angie asked, the pretence of eating abandoned as she leaned towards him intensely.

“Um, listen to her and respect her? Learn from her? Show her how much you appreciate having her in your life?” Daniel decided it was safer not to look at Peggy during this.

“Angie, really, that’s enough,” Peggy said with fond but firm exasperation.

“This is for your benefit as much as mine. Don’t you want to know this stuff?”

“Yes, but organically. When the time is right.”

Angie sat back and huffed a little. “Fine,” she agreed, only a little grudgingly. They all turned back to their plates with little enthusiasm.

Conversation eventually resumed and settled into a pleasant pace. Peggy must have felt safe enough to use the bathroom, because she excused herself from the table.

Daniel glanced nervously at Angie.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “I won’t jump down your throat again.”

Daniel grinned. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“I just care about her, you know?”

Daniel smiled softly. “I know. Me, too.” He hesitated a moment. “Listen, Peggy and I are still early days. But I want you to know my intentions are honourable. If I had it my way, I’d marry her tomorrow and spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy. But she’s not ready for that, so I’m letting her set the pace. I’m a very patient man. I just...I want you to know I’d never hurt her, or pressure her, or make her unhappy. I’d rather cut off my other leg,” he finished rather lamely. But it was obviously the right thing to say, as Angie gave him a rather watery smile.

“She needs good people in her life. You seem like good people.”

Daniel’s heart swelled. “Thanks, Angie. I’m glad she’s got you, as well.”

The two shared an emotional smile of accord, which was broken when Peggy came in clearing her throat. Her eyes looked suspiciously wet.

“I hope you two behaved while I was gone,” she told them, her voice a little unsteady. Without giving them a chance to answer, she continued. “Because you are both really important to me. And I’d really love it if we could all just...get along.” She blinked rapidly.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Daniel.

“Me neither,” agreed Angie.

Peggy nodded, clearly touched. “Right, in that case I think we should order some chinese.”

Angie huffed out a laugh. “Oh, thank god.”

Daniel grinned, enjoying Peggy’s affectionate laugh. He felt like he’d passed all the tests set by Peggy’s self-appointed protectors. The woman herself would no doubt be an even greater challenge, but as Daniel had said, he was a patient man.

And Peggy was more than worth the effort.

 


End file.
